The Pentagon’s latest admission illustrates the botched intelligence behind the strike that mistakenly killed 10 civilians in August. The U.S. military has not located a suspected Islamic State safe house in Kabul, Afghanistan, that officials initially said led to an American drone strike on Aug. 29 that mistakenly killed 10 civilians, including seven children, according to two senior military officials. […]

The United States is worried about an uptick in attacks by Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan and remains deeply concerned about al Qaeda’s ongoing presence there, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West said on Monday. West spoke to reporters by telephone from Brussels, where he briefed NATO allies on U.S. talks with the Taliban and held consultations on a […]

The Taliban are carrying out background checks within their ranks as they look to identify and capture infiltrators from rival Islamic State, which has carried out several deadly attacks across Afghanistan since the militant group took power in August. “Anyone who’s seen as harmful to the government or people of Afghanistan and misusing the authority of the government will be […]

During the 20-year break from Taliban rule after the US invasion, the growth of journalism and creative media was one of Afghanistan’s only success stories. After the years of Taliban rule in the 1990s – when TV was banned completely – the country saw the birth on an independent media, as well a rise in education levels, in particular for […]

A year and a half before their takeover of Afghanistan in August, the Taliban signed a deal with the U.S. stipulating that they would not allow any individuals or groups to use Afghan soil “to threaten the security of the United States and its allies.” Today, with the Taliban in control and U.S. troops withdrawn after two decades of war […]

Turkish security personnel have arrested nearly 150 Afghan migrants on the border with Iran, media reports said on Saturday. The Afghan citizens were detained on Thursday in the eastern city of Bitlis after the country boosted border security to block entry from Afghanistan via Iran. Local officials said one person was arrested on suspicion of smuggling migrants inside a truck […]

Aref Mohammad’s war against the Islamic State ended earlier this fall when his unit of Taliban fighters was ambushed by the terrorist group in eastern Afghanistan. A bullet shattered his femur, leaving him disabled and barely able to walk, never mind fight. But for the Taliban movement he served under, now the government of Afghanistan, the war against the Islamic […]

As the Taliban shift their focus from insurgency to government, their most formidable rival is the Islamic State’s regional chapter, which has staged a string of bloody attacks in recent weeks. The latest atrocity claimed by Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) killed at least 19 people Tuesday, including a senior Taliban commander at a military hospital in Kabul, with dozens more wounded. […]

The Haqqani network has long been the most lethal and vicious element of the Taliban. Afghanistan’s newly appointed minister of interior and acting minister of refugees each have $5 million bounties on their head for their involvement with international terrorism. Sirajuddin Haqqani and his uncle, Khalil, are members of the Haqqani network, an Afghan Sunni Islamist militant organization that is […]

China’s establishment of military bases in Tajikistan reflects a shared concern with Central Asian countries about the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. Tajikistan is pivotal to China and other actors because it borders areas of Afghanistan where there is a small, but active, armed opposition to the Taliban. Regional and global powers no longer trust the Taliban’s pledges to […]